Wednesday, October 8, 2008

weird facts around the world

ok....Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.

American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad in first class.

30% of Chinese adults live with their parents.

200 million people in China live on less than $1 a day.

There are 100 million internet users in China. Some of the sites they can't access are BBC news, Amnesty International and Dalailama.com.

In 2006, there were 398 million mobile (or cell) phones in China.

China is the source of 70% of the worlds pirated goods.

20% of the world's population lives in China.

People spend about two weeks of their lives at traffic lights!

Left handed people live slightly shorter lives than right handed people.

Armadillos are able to contract leprosy.

Ten years ago, only 500 people in China could ski. This year, an estimated 5,000,000 Chinese will visit ski resorts.

The ant, when intoxicated, will always fall over to its right side.

The original name of Bank of America was Bank of Italy.

Toxic house plants poison more children than household chemicals.

Topless saleswomen are legal in Liverpool, England, but only in tropical fish stores.

In Bahrain, a male gynecologist can only examine a woman's private parts through a mirror.

If the entire population of earth was reduced to exactly 100 people,50% of the world's currency would be held by 6 people.

In comic strips, the person on the left always speaks first.

Fewer than half of the 16,200 major league baseball players have ever hit a home run.

A snail can sleep for three years.

Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived immigrants.

In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all of the world's nuclear weapons combined.

Turtles can breathe through their butts.

Pearls melt in vinegar.

Walt Disney was afraid of mice.

You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.

Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.

Most lipstick contains fish scales.

Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants

Close to 80% of people who watch the Super Bowl on television, only do so to view the commercials.

In the 1800's, people believed that gin could cure stomach problems.

It took approximately 2.5 million blocks to build the Pyramid of Giza, which is one of the Great Pyramids.

Thomas Edison designed a helicopter that would work with gunpowder.It ended up blowing up and also blew up his factory

McDonalds calls frequent buyers of their food heavy users.

Americans ate eight million more orders of french fries and almost six million more hamburgers this year compared to last.

The Netherlands has built 800 miles of massive dikes and sea walls to hold back the sea.

One pair of rats has the potential for 15,000 descendants in a year.

A female can produce up to twelve litters of twenty rats a year.

Male and female rats may have sex twenty times a day.

The rat has been called the world’s most destructive mammal - other than man.

Rats destroy an estimated 1/3 of the world’s food supply each year.

credit to: http://whimsicalogre.blogspot.com/

Monday, September 22, 2008

Most Expensive Car in the World

If your passion for performance and luxury autos cannot be stopped, and your McLaren F1 is becoming a bore with the rest of your exotic cars, it might be time to check out the long awaited Veyron from Bugatti. At around $1.25 million, it is the most expensive car ever made. So what car value do you get for all that money?

world's most expensive car

This is not your typical luxury car. How about a W-16 (essentially two narrow-angle V-8s sharing a crankshaft) with four turbochargers generating 1001 hp, throw in all-wheel drive and you’ve got a seriously fast car.

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 hits 60 mph in 2.5 secs., does the quarter-mile in 10.5 secs. and reaches its top speed of 252 mph in just 55 secs. After a long absence from the market Bugatti (with a little help from parent company Volkswagen) has reclaimed its title as the ultimate performance car and reigns supreme as the world’s most expensive car in production.


credit to: jeremy

http://most-expensive.net

World's Most Expensive Bottled Water

Bottled water is big business, I mean, really big. In less than ten years bottled water consumption has doubled, with prices about 100 times that of tap water. Hollywood writer-producer Kevin G. Boyd has tapped into the bottled water market with an image approach. His water, Bling H20, the world’s most expensive bottled water, has been spotted in the hands of numerous celebrities and even at awards ceremonies like the Emmy’s, Grammy’s, and the MTV Video Music Awards.

Expensive Bottled Water
Bling H2O

The water is bottled in Dandridge, Tennessee, probably the least note-able quality of the most expensive bottled water. Boyd’s approach to the bottled water market is as extreme as the limited edition bottles themselves. They come frosted, corked, and boasting hand-applied Swarovski crystal. Bling H20 boasts that it has won the gold medal at the Berkely Springs International Water Tasting Festival with its nine-step purification process. If you are a water elitist, be prepared to spend $40-60 for a 750ml bottle. If you are buying your expensive bottled water at a club, be prepared to spend more.


credit to: tom

http://most-expensive.net

World's Most Expensive Phone Number

In many areas of the world you can phone switch carriers but keep your phone number. This is known as phone number portability. Caller id and cell phones have encouraged many people to stop memorizing phone numbers, because simply by hitting a button, a person can connect to someone who recently called. It is easy to see that some phone numbers are easier to remember than others. In May of 2006 the most expensive phone number was sold in a charity auction in Doha, Qatar.

The expensive phone number 666 6666 reportedly sold for 10m Qatari riyals or £1.5m, or around $2,750,000 US. In the West some consider 6 the imperfect number, but this is apparently not the consensus in Qatar.

The Register reports that the Chinese number 8888 8888 was previously the most expensive phone number, selling for £270,000 to Sichuan Airlines.


credit to: tom

http://most-expensive.net/phone-number

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Friday, September 12, 2008

Press Statement by Malaysian Bar

The Malaysian Bar

The Bar Council is shocked and deeply troubled over the reported arrest of Raja Petra Kamaruddin under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

The Malaysian Bar has consistently denounced the ISA as draconion and undemocratic, and believes that preventive detention laws should not be invoked under any circumstances. The ISA and other preventive detention laws violate fundamental rights, are unconstitutional and oppressive, and have no place in a society that respects and upholds the rule of law. If an offence has been allegedly committed, the individual concerned must be charged in court and given a fair opportunity to defend himself. We agree with the view reportedly expressed by Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim yesterday when he disagreed with the call for the use of the ISA on Datuk Ahmad Ismail, saying that this “will have a huge effect on… the rule of law” and that he should therefore “go through the normal process of law”.

The Bar Council is equally perturbed that three newspapers have been issued show-cause letters today over their news coverage. This together with the arrest of Raja Petra Kamaruddin under the ISA may be viewed as a chilling message that our fundamental freedoms are not secure.

Too often we see in other countries, the rule of law and human rights becoming the first casualties when these countries face uncertainties. This must never be allowed to happen in our country where the rule of law is entrenched in our Rukunegara. More so as Malaysia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council.

We therefore call for the immediate release of Raja Petra Kamaruddin and other detainees.

Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan
President
Malaysian Bar